Jake Virtanen over Tyler Toffoli in the top six makes sense right now

The Vancouver Canucks brought in Tyler Toffoli at the trade deadline to shore up the top six but his value could lie in boosting the bottom six scoring.

It’s been an up and down playoffs for Toffoli, to say the least. His big return to the playoffs after an apparent ankle injury couldn’t have gone better. He scored just nine seconds into his first shift back and finished the game with three points.

Toffoli was skating on a line with Elias Pettersson and Tanner Pearson in that game. That line looked good at the time but has not been the same since.

Here are the numbers for the Pearson-Pettersson-Toffoli trio in game two:

Here are the numbers for the trio in games three, four and five:

Their control of the shot share plummeted and they were unable to generate a goal while being scored on twice in just under 21 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time.

Toffoli makes this team much better when he is playing effectively.

I wouldn’t go out and say that Toffoli is a “streaky scorer” as his longest goalless stretch of the season was only nine games — it just seems that he is a “streaky game dominator”. He makes this Canucks team much better in the long run as a top six player who can help the first powerplay unit and be a game breaker at times.

The problem is that he isn’t at 100% right now. At times he is not effective enough on the forecheck and his stick seems to have developed the “yips” at times in the offensive zone. The Canucks need to be better at controlling possession in the offensive zone and right now I am seeing the puck bounce of Toffoli’s stick as they enter the zone way too much.

So my idea was that Toffoli fits into the third line a bit better. This obviously isn’t a great take for the long term and I think specifically in this Vegas series it makes the most sense. The Knights have been all over the Canucks bottom six. Stranding them in their defensive zone for what feels like the entirety of periods at times, specifically the second period.

There are two bottom six players that are actually looking better as the series goes on; Adam Gaudette and Antoine Roussel. Roussel has been able to find a balance of being an effective forechecker while being a thorn in the side of Knights players after the whistle. Gaudette has been skating better and is actually able to get the puck out of the Canucks zone by skating it out himself which has only been attainable by one other Canucks bottom six player and that is Tyler Motte.

Gaudette and Roussel have primarily been saddled up with Brandon Sutter, who has had his fair share of scoring chances in this series. Sutter is eighth on the team in individual expected goals per 60 minutes in this series. The trio has been unable to beat Robin Lehner or Marc Andre Fleury in this series but has not been scored on as well.

This is where I think it could get interesting.

Moving Sutter down to the fourth line to play with Tyler Motte and Jay Beagle would give Travis Green the defensive line that he loves so dearly. Having Toffoli slide onto the third line could give that line an added scoring touch that it was been looking for and simply hasn’t received with Sutter there.

This is all fine and dandy but it results in two options, Loui Eriksson going back into the lineup and sliding into the top six with Horvat and Pearson or Virtanen going up there to bring some offence.

The Eriksson movement is really a non-starter for me. The top six needs to control goal share for the Canucks to be competitive in this series, Eriksson simply does not bring any offence to that line.

Virtanen is the key here.

That’s right, the guy with two points in 14 games this postseason is the key to rounding out some offence in the top six.

Horvat has looked good at times in the Knights series but has been quiet through games as well. His possession numbers, shot share, expected goals for percentage and control of scoring chances are much better with Virtanen on his wing.

Though moving Toffoli out of the top six is not what a lot of people want to hear, I do believe it gives the Canucks their best chance of winning the 5-on-5 goal share battle. It gets the most out of the duo of Toffoli and Virtanen as both players have not performed up to their scoring potential in the current positions in the lineup that they have been in so far.

Toffoli has not helped the top six groups as much as Virtanen has during his time in the top of the lineup so far in this series.

Toffoli has skill, he would bring a finishing touch that Sutter simply does not possess right now. With Toffoli coming out of the top six it would give him easier matchups against Vegas and could potentially limit the offence coming from the Knights’ third line of Nick Cousins, Nicolas Roy and Alex Tuch.

That third line for the Knights has been stellar against the Canucks in this series. They have outshot their opposition by a count of 30-19 and outscored the Canucks 4-1 in during their 46:04 of ice-time.

Having the Roussel-Gaudette-Toffoli line get some offensive chances of their own would help slow down that depth scoring of the Golden Knights.

Taking Toffoli out of the top six does not mean that he should come off of the first unit powerplay. Since adding Toffoli to the first unit the Canucks’ powerplay has seen an uptick in shots on goal, scoring chances, goals and expected goals. They should keep him there on that unit for an added boost of offence with his ability to work down low and behind the net.

The Canucks need to explore every option going into game six and seven if they want to claw their way to the Western Conference finals. Travis Green has mixed up his lines in game and it has worked for him at times in this series. Maximizing the output from Toffoli and Virtanen should be something that boosts scoring from the bottom nine lines.

The Lotto Line should be back together in games six and seven after their performance in game five and that opens up the door for changes to the other lines that did not produce anything at even strength.

Simply put, the bottom six needs to contribute as they have been held off the scoresheet throughout this series against the Golden Knights. This shakeup and potential scoring boost from the bottom six could be the source that helps get the Canucks over the hump in this series.

None of the Canucks’ bottom six players have been involved in a goal this series.

Jake Virtanen is the only player in the bottom six who has even been on the ice for a Canucks goal scored this series.

This move of Virtanen to the top six and Toffoli to the third line is what could jumpstart some offence for the middle six and gives the Canucks the best chance of victory in this series. They are going to need to get some offence from elsewhere than The Lotto Line and this gives them their best chance.

I’d love to see in the comments how you feel about Tyler Toffoli so far in this series. His game two magic was something special but could he bring more to the team with an easier line matchup as a third line player?